The Fund supports several networks of state health policymakers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis on topics important to state health policymakers, particularly on issues related to state leadership, primary care, aging, and health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest blogs from our thought leaders, including Fund President Christopher F. Koller.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is an endowed operating foundation that aims to improve population health by connecting leaders and decision makers with the best available evidence and experience. It does this work by:
The Milbank Memorial Fund is an endowed operating foundation that publishes The Milbank Quarterly, commissions projects, and convenes state health policy decision makers on issues they identify as important to population health.
March 1973 (Volume 51)
Harris S. Cohen
Back to The Milbank Quarterly
This paper analyzes the close nexus between professional associations and the process of state licensure. Licensure is viewed as an extension of the concern for self-regulation that characterizes professionalism. Notwithstanding the important mission of protecting the health and safety of the public, in many cases, licensure has provided a means of according status and recognition to a body of specialized knowledge, resulting in a “state-protected environment” wherein the profession is virtually autonomous. Several recent proposals that may have far-reaching impact on the natural insularity of licensing boards are critically discussed. These include public representation, reorganization of boards, institutional licensure, and jointly promulgated regulations. In the context of a growing demand for greater public accountability and responsiveness in the credentialing of health manpower, these proposals may be of pivotal importance if innovative developments in the utilization and distribution of manpower are to be realized.
Author(s): Harris S. Cohen
Download the Article
Read on JSTOR
Volume 51, Issue 1 (pages 73–88) Published in 1973